Behavioral Health Services Presentation: Self-Care

I have worked several times with Behavioral Health Services (BHS) over the years. It was so fun when I was asked to be the speaker for an event aimed at educating about self-care. That night, I saw old friends and made new ones. Most importantly, I was able to speak before a group of people who, for the most part, were unaware that marijuana can cause mental illness. This group had a lot of people in recovery. So they had experience with substances. Some commented that they did not use marijuana, but were surprised to see that, over the the years, their friends who did use it, were seriously mentally ill. I explained that marijuana is the #1 substance that can cause psychosis (short term loss of touch with reality) that actually converts to schizophrenia (long term). This distinction is above meth, LSD, shrooms, alcohol, cocaine, etc. The information helped them to make sense of what happened to their friends. And one commented how, since legalization, she had never seen so many homeless youth. One unhoused teenager had asked her where to get the marijuana. 

A sample of surveys submitted after the event is below. The response was overwhelmingly positive.